Quick Fix: Reset Windows Firewall SBS & Windows Server Essentials

Whilst troubleshooting a problem on a server, have you ever reset Windows Firewall back to Defaults?

It would seem like a logical step in some cases, however it could have unexpected consequences.

Did you know you could export the policy from Windows Firewall?

Under Advanced Settings, You can right Click ‘Windows Firewall with Advanced Security’ and click ‘Export Policy’

Of course the reverse is true,and you can then Import a previously exported policy.  An import will overwrite the existing policy.

This is all fine, however, if on an Essentials OS you happened to click ‘Restore Defaults’ you would have just wiped out a few custom rules, and disabled some other built-in ones.

But which? How to get them back? There is no function built in to do this. So you need to rely on having an existing Essentials server to compare with or phoning a friend.

Until now.

This is something i have thought should be included in the SBS Essentials and Windows Server 2012 Essentials OS for a long time.

After having this very question pop up in the forum recently i decided to set to work and write a script to restore the Essentials firewall customisations. You can download them from here:

SBS 2011 Essentials: http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/SBS-2011-Essentials-Repair-cc339f45

Windows Server 2012 Essentials: http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Repair-Windows-Firewall-25814cce

Just open up a PowerShell window and run the script and your firewall will be magically repaired!